Sales advisers can be found in a wide range of industries; from retail to telecommunications there are opportunities aplenty for expert salespeople. The core expertise is always the same, the ability to sell and provide assistance to customers, but the environment can often be very different.
For the benefit of this article though I'll look at two of the more customary sales adviser positions - within a commercial store and telesales. Broadly these provide a decent overview of the role as a whole.
In Store Sales Adviser
Whether it's a supermarket, department store or electronics outlet, companies look for sales advisers who are able to interact with the customers and provide expert assistance. Whilst the ability to do the hard sell is important, you also have to be able to build a rapport and provide a useful service.
When done incorrectly customers can feel harassed by salespeople. In the most part this is where the hard sell goes a little too far. Getting the balance right between offering a useful service and shifting goods is a huge challenge, which is why good sales advisers are highly sought after in large shops throughout the world.
This is obviously a face to face job and will often have a pay structure that is based around results if working in a specialist arena. The need to be able to converse directly and sincerely with the customers is therefore vital.
Telecommunications Sales Adviser
Away from the shop floor you can also find yours a role as a telesales adviser. Here you'll still be communicating with the wider public but doing so on behalf of just one company or product and over the phone.
This is a challenging arena. Often you'll be following up leads, chasing old prospects or even cold calling on the basis of consumer activity. The incentives for a successful sales adviser in the telecommunications world are substantial. It is almost entirely results driven, so being able to convert interest (no matter how slight) into a sale can be a vital skill.
Again the ability to be able to engage people over the phone is vital. Therefore your phone manner has to be impeccable and your ability to think fast and find useful solutions to problems are a huge advantage. You could be selling anything, but the bottom line will always be that final sales sheet at the end of the day.
It is often a hectic environment and certainly isn't for the faint hearted. Not all clients will be friendly and every day can't be a huge success. Being able to handle the knocks whilst working in a busy environment all day and staying glued to the phone is a challenge that takes time to master quite often.
So there you have it, the two core roles of a sales adviser. Whether the role is face to face or over the phone though you still need to be able to get a rapport going, have the banter and be an expert at selling. There's always room for a successful sales adviser in any company, so as far as careers go it can certainly be a gateway to great things.
